'''Web Bot''' is an [[internet bot]] computer program whose developers claim is able to predict future events by tracking keywords entered on the internet. It was developed in 1997, originally to predict stock market trends.<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6227357/Web-bot-project-makes-prophecy-of-2012-apocalypse.html|title='Web-bot project' makes prophecy of 2012 apocalypse|last=Chivers|first=Tom|date=24 September 2009|work=The Daily Telegraph |___location=London |access-date=4 October 2009 }}</ref> The creator of the Web Bot Project, Clif High, along with his associate [[George Ure]], keep the technology and [[algorithm]]s largely secret and sell the predictions via the website.
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===Misses===
* The Web Bot gained most of its notoriety for contributing to the [[2012 phenomenon]] by predicting a cataclysm that would devastate the planet on 21 December 2012, possibly a reversing of [[Earth's magnetic field|Earth's magnetic poles]] or a small series of nuclear attacks leading up to a major attack during the year. The prediction did not call for a complete end of the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Worlds-expiry-date-21-December-2012/521526/ |title=World's expiry date: 21 December 2012? |publisher=ExpressIndia |access-date=3 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329041221/http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Worlds-expiry-date-21-December-2012/521526/ |archive-date=29 March 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eldia.com.ar/edis/20080427/revistadomingo15.htm|title=El Nostradamus virtual (in Spanish)|publisher=[[El Día (La Plata)|El Día]]|access-date=25 October 2009}}</ref>
* Web Bot predicted that a massive earthquake would occur in December 2008 in [[Vancouver]], British Columbia]], Canada and the [[Pacific Northwest]], but no such event happened.<ref name=taylor>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article651047.ece |title=Vanwaterworld? Hold the Armageddon talk |last=Taylor |first=Timothy |date=January 2009 |work=The Globe and Mail |___location=Canada |access-date=4 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329060911/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article651047.ece |archive-date=29 March 2010 }}</ref>
* A prediction that the US dollar would completely collapse in 2011, and that [[Israel]] would bomb [[Iran]], with the administration of U.S. President [[Barack Obama]] being thrown into major chaos.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://seekingalpha.com/article/167241-the-market-s-current-psychological-map|title=The Market's Current Psychological Map|publisher=[[Seeking Alpha]]|access-date=25 October 2009}}</ref>
==Reception==
The [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] has discussed Web Bot in its special "Doomsday 2012: The End of Days" on [[Decoding_the_PastDecoding the Past#Season_3|Season 3|season 3 of Decoding The Past]] and on other shows that feature predictions about the end of the world, such as the ''[[Nostradamus Effect]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&episodeId=396904 |title=History TV Shows |publisher=History.com |access-date=4 January 2012}}{{Failed verification|date=August 2015|reason=Doomsday 2012 isn't listed anymore. Probably not on the network anymore.}}</ref> A ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' journalist noted that {{quote|"What interests me more than the bot's accuracy (of which I'm skeptical), is the relentless negativity of its projections. According to the bot, the future is always bleak and steadily worsening."<ref name=taylor/>}} Tom Chivers in the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'' notes three criticisms of the project: {{quote|"the internet might plausibly reveal group knowledge about the stock market or, conceivably, terror attacks [but] it would be no more capable of predicting a natural disaster than would a Google search, ... the predictions are so vague as to be meaningless, [and] the prophecies become self-distorting."<ref name=telegraph/>}}
